Short Stories

Saturday, 20th March 2021 It was a tragic accident. He fell at home, in his garden, from a height of three metres, off his ladder, sustaining lethal injuries. My friend Carlos has now entered the eternal hunting grounds. For me he was an Indian, who came to Monchique from the Alentejo and a foreigner in a community, a friend of nature, wise and modest, calm and well-read, a rather quiet but always attentive fellow. There will be no second Carlos in this world. He gifted us wonderful trees, two pecan nut trees, a chestnut and a cork oak, a token …

Saturday 13 of March 2021 A few days ago I witnessed a very interesting spectacle. One of the reasons for participating in a videoconference with 67 people was to learn how the situation of the forests in Portugal might be improved, but also to present my idea of the Botanic Forest Garden in Monchique. However, all of a sudden the Internet started to take on a life of its own. Someone was stuttering and uttering load animal groans from the dark recess of the World Wide Web, seemingly trying to take part in the discussion, however in their very own …

Saturday 6th of March 2021 This coming Tuesday, 9 March, from 6pm onwards, an exciting ONLINE debate on the Forest of the South will take place. The debate is hosted by the „Floresta Autóctone“ citizens’ action group, whose initiators belong to Portugal’s longest-established association dedicated to nature conservation, CAMPO ABERTO from Oporto. The main topic of debate will be the opportunities and programmes to free forested plots of land of the invasive eucalyptus monoculture which foments climate change through forest fires, and to reforest these plots with native tree species, recreating plant diversity. To this end four moderators from Aljezur …

Saturday, the 27th of February 2021 Isn’t it exciting to collect traces of extraterrestrial life on Mars? Maybe we’ll find people there? Sometimes I ask myself whether we couldn’t save ourselves the energy and the money to build a rocket and launching it to fly 155 million miles all the way to Mars? Try visualising our Earth completely without forest and without water, without clouds and without wind, without balmy temperatures and also without annual seasons. Let’s just imagine for a moment the now near-on ten billion people and the many other kinds of flora and fauna on our still …

Saturday 20 of February 2021 Our goal is to become self sufficient with our food. We need five years to achieve this. We will reach this goal in five steps. In the first year, we worked the land, clearing it and creating a fine tilth, removing the stones and weeds. At the same time, we composted, then used compost as a fertilizer for the first sowing in the second year: potatoes and onions, peas and beans, tomatoes and peppers and many more things. We also would recommend a permaculture course at Quinta Vale da Lama in Lagos. For today’s recipe, …

Saturday the 13th of February 2021 The forest is filled with animals, plants, grasses, herbs and mushrooms. And that’s why I love every native tree growing exactly where it happens to be. For our forest and winter cuisine, I have chosen three types of mushrooms. Why? Because I know them. Those mushrooms that I don’t really know stay where they are, and I leave them to carry on growing in the forest. They don’t get to see the inside of my kitchen. I’m happy to admit that my knowledge is finite; too many people have paid with their lives for …

Saturday the 6 th February 2021 One of our family’s favourite recipes is “flammkuchen”, or “tarte flambé”, as it is often called, since it is a typical speciality from the south-east of France. There are a thousand and one varieties of this dish to be found in Lorraine, but also in Alsace, Switzerland and the German State of Saarland, and, as it can easily be made without either meat or fish, it’s a great choice for a vegetarian meal. We sometimes opt for a vegan version, but we love it in all its varieties, and, in today’s recipe, we are …

Saturday, the 30th of January 2021 During the Covid-19 pandemic, people have been displaying a range of different attitudes that have never before been so well observed and analysed. And it is challenging moments like this one that can help us to overcome our problems. We are now at the stage where our goal is to prevent the virus from spreading any further. It is a struggle between humans and the virus, Goliath versus David. Who will emerge the winner? Since we have a head between our ears and a brain to think with, we can decide our own future. …

Saturday the 23rd of January 2021 Leaving Vila do Bispo and travelling north, we reach Pedralva and the Pizza Pazza restaurant. Unfortunately, it’s closed. I was really hungry for a freshly baked crispy pizza there. So I carry on north on the EN120, which goes through Carrapateira next to the Atlantic Ocean, and which then reaches Aljezur. I recently had a very good vegetarian pizza in the village of Alfambras at Trigo Vermelho, the restaurant that also serves a pizza made with gluten-free dough and also a vegan pizza. Due to the lock down of the country, the owner has …

Saturday the 16th of January 2021 It is shortly after 12 o’clock on this day before the lock-down, shortly before the country is once again completely closed down. The Parliament decided an hour ago to close Portugal and all its restaurants. The door opens and the guest who enters says into the room: “Mmm, it smells good in here.” We start our journey through the best cuisines of the Republic in Vila do Bispo, in the extreme southwest of Portugal. Our idea is to travel through all 308 counties and test and recommend the food in each one. Somewhere I …